IGF 2020 Pre-Event #31 Civil Society Coordination meeting: a Public Interest Internet discussion

The civil society coordination event will act as a convening and collaboration opportunity for civil society groups working on issues related to internet governance and policy. It will allow groups to discuss issues of common concern and to identify opportunities for collaboration on issues and forums. It will also allow the participants to consider issues relevant to the IGF agenda and identify what opportunities exist during the IGF where civil society can come together to reinforce common positions and thereby strengthen the civil society voice in internet governance discussions. For this years Civil Society Coordination event, Internet Governance Caucus is proposing a discussion on a Public Interest oriented Internet. During this discussion, we aim to facilitate a discussion between Civil Society members on how far we've come in terms of ensuring that the public Interest is preserved throughout the Internet layers of the Internet (e.g the physical, code, content layers). Additionally, the idea is to identify how broader principles related to Internet Governance debates apply to each of these areas, whether they have been adhered to and what proposals or measures could be taken in order to ensure that public interest principles are adhered to in the future. Internet Governance Caucus has also submitted a workshop proposal that, if accepted, will touch upon the same discussions. The present submission of a day zero event will, therefore, be used as a exploratory space for better understanding of civil society views on these issues.